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SRMU incident: ABVP writes to CM Yogi, demands action within 48 hours
We demand action against the officer who ordered the lathicharge and the outsiders who reached the campus and beat our workers, says ABVP national secretary Ankit Shukla
Strongly condemning Monday’s police lathicharge on their workers at Shri Ram Swaroop Memorial University, Barabanki, the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) has set a 48-hour ultimatum for the UP government to ensure punitive action against all those, including the university administration, involved in the incident even as it termed it an assault on the democratic values.
The ABVP workers will stage demonstrations in district centres across the state to lodge their protest. “If our demands are not met within the set time limit, the student body will be forced to launch a statewide agitation to expose the nexus between police, bureaucrats and the college management,” said ABVP national secretary Ankit Shukla at a press conference on Thursday,
“The lathicharge incident has left thousands of our workers angry. We demand action against the officer who ordered the lathicharge and the outsiders who reached the campus and beat our workers,” he said.
“For years, the SRMU has been running its law programme in violation of norms and without proper renewal/approval. Only on Wednesday did the Bar Council of India grant provisional recognition, which clearly proves that the course had been conducted illegally until now. The movement will continue until justice is ensured,” he claimed.
“Time has come for the UP government to crack the whip on educational mafia who are fleecing students in the name of fees and keeping them in the dark over the legality of the law course,” he said.
The ABVP leader also demanded an unconditional apology from and resignation of UP cabinet minister Om Prakash Rajbhar who had criticised ABVP workers for taking law in their hands and justified police action against them. He also accused the university of illegal land encroachment, saying that about six bighas of
government land was unlawfully occupied. He cited a tehsildar court ruling dated August 25 which imposed a fine of ₹27.96 lakh on the university and ordered the removal of encroachments within 15 days. The ABVP has demanded the immediate enforcement of this order and demolition of the illegal structures.
Meanwhile, the ABVP also wrote a letter to the CM highlighting these points and demanding a thorough probe into the illegal operation of law courses by the SRMU until now. “Directly expelling two students fighting for the student movement without any warning is also illegal. Hence, the guilty should be punished in this regard too,” the letter said.
